Nick Podkul connected for his second home of the run to get Vancouver on the board Sunday.
The Vancouver Canadians guaranteed themselves a series victory against Hillsboro and at least a .500 record for the first-half thanks to a 5-3 win over the Hops at Nat Bailey Stadium Sunday afternoon. The one thing they could not guarantee was a playoff berth as Everett defeated Boise to win the first-half North Division pennant.
The C’s jumped out to a first inning lead when Nick Podkul punished a Matt Tabor offering over the fence in left field to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead. Yorman Rodriguez extended his hitting streak with a single to right but he was caught stealing second base to take the steam out of that rally.
Hillsboro responded with a homer of their own in the third. Randy Tufts won the battle of the Randys when his blast off Randy Pondler just cleared the short wall in left field out of the reach of McGregory Contreras.
The Hops went ahead in the fifth when Tufts lined a single to left to score a Francis Martinez double to lead off the inning. Ryan January had a single in between those hits and got to third when Zach Hoffpauir reached on a fielder’s choice. Bryan Lizardo tried to tag January but had settle for forcing out Tufts at second. Hoffpauir stole second but Pondler induced a groundball to Jake Brodt at first and he threw it to catcher Yorman Rodriguez to get January at the plate. Pondler got Keshawn Lynch to pop up to second to escape further damage.
Yorman Rodriguez ran his hitting streak to 15 games and drove in a run Sunday.
Vancouver would answer back in the bottom of the fifth when Brandon Polizzi worked a leadoff walk before Otto Lopez reached on an infield single to third off Yeison Santana. Polizzi and Lopez pulled off a double steal. Podkul reached on a fielder’s choice on a grounder to third but he was able to get to second base because Polizzi stayed in a rundown long enough. Rodriguez would get an RBI groundout short to score Lopez from third.
The Hops regained the lead again in the sixth when Jose Caballero walked and stole second before scoring on a two-out double by Martinez.
McGregory Contreras contributed a go-ahead two-run double against Hillsboro Sunday.
The Canadians would retake the lead with two runs in the sixth off West Tunnell. Brodt and Jesus Severino collected one-out singles to left before Contreras drove them home with a double to left. Contreras would get to third on a wild pitch before Lopez worked a two-out walk. Lopez stole second with Tunnell holding on to the ball the whole time. Contreras thought about stealing home but wandered too far off the third base as he was tagged out by Tufts.
Brandon Polizzi had a hit, two walks and two stolen bases against Hillsboro Sunday.
After being held in check by Justin Garcia in the seventh, Vancouver got one more run in the eighth off Hops reliever Wesley Rodriguez. Sterling Guzman led off with a single and moved up to second after Contreras was hit by a pitch with two outs. Polizzi drilled a line drive double to center to score Guzman but Contreras put on the brakes between third and home. That hesitation would cost him as he would be tagged out at the plate by Hops catcher Andy Yerzy on a 8-5-2 play to end the inning.
After Pondler pitched six innings, Fitz Stadler got the next six outs before lefty Nick Allgeyer worked a perfect ninth for the save.
Nick Allgeyer worked a perfect ninth inning for his first professional save.
Radar Gun Rundown
Pondler had strikeouts of 89, 80 and 89 miles per hour as his offerings ranged from 80-90.
Stadler had strikeouts at 91 and 93 and reached 94 at one point. He also threw sliders at 85. Allgeyer had strikeouts at 85 and 82 and checked in at 74 and 92.
A quality start by Randy Pondler resulted in his first Northwest League victory.
C-Notes
Pondler had trouble settling in during the first by walking Jorge Perez and Lynch and was a ball away from walking the bases loaded before Caballero popped up to second. Pondler then induced a 3-6-1 double play started by Brodt and turned by Severino with Pondler covering the first base bag to get out of the inning.
Hops manager Shawn Roof was not happy with the umpires. He argued a second inning 4-3 double play on a ground ball by January that erased a Martinez single at second base. Roof also took issue with the men in blue after Pondler bounced off the mound to start a 1-3 putout from Perez in the top of the third. He also got heated after Polizzi stole second base in the third perhaps due to batter interference by Lopez.
Polizzi got a wakeup call from Tabor after he had to dodge a pitch coming for his head in the bottom of the third. The C’s utilityman nodded towards Tabor and smiled, acknowledging it was not intentional. A nice piece of sportsmanship by both Polizzi and Tabor.
Rodriguez had problems handling a strike three pitch from Pondler in the fourth inning as he could not pick up the ball cleanly at first. He stumbled before recovering to make the play at first to retire his Hops counterpart Yerzy.
Sterling Guzman had Vancouver’s lone multi-hit game Sunday afternoon.
Vancouver wasted a glorious opportunity to take the lead in the fourth when Lizardo and Guzman began the frame with back-to-back singles before Guzman stole second. However, Brodt popped up to third and Severino popped out to second before Contreras hit a fly ball to center that was an out too late.
C’s manager Dallas McPherson showed confidence in Pondler to get out of the sixth inning. The skipper visited paid a visit to the mound but left Pondler in to strike out January on a full-count pitch to strand Martinez who had doubled in the go-ahead run at the time.
Fitz Stadler struck out three over two shutout innings Sunday.
Contreras bailed out Stadler in the seventh by making a diving catch on a sinking liner by Caballero in left field. Stadler had given up a pair of singles to Hoffpauir and Lynch before Contreras made the inning-ending snag.
Podkul had to deal with a tricky hop on the infield dirt in the eighth inning but he stayed with it to retire January to end the eighth inning.
All nine Canadians hitters had a hit with Guzman getting two. Polizzi was on base three times with a pair of walks. Lopez and Podkul reached twice by drawing a base on balls while Contreras did so by taking one for the team. The C’s were 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left seven men stranded. They had 10 hits, four walks and a hit by pitch against nine strikeouts.
Pondler gave up three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out four over six innings. Stadler scattered three hits but struck out over his two innings. Allgeyer struck out the first two men he faced in a perfect ninth.
The C’s and Hops conclude this series and the first half of the season with a 7:05 pm contest Monday night at Nat Bailey Stadium. The C’s have not announced a starter for the game. The Hops will go with righthander Matt Mercer (0-0, 0.00), the Diamondbacks 5th round pick of the 2018 draft out of Oregon. The game will be on CanadiansBaseball.com and on TSN 1040. Pregame show is set for 6:00 pm.
C-Tweets
Thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, families and friends affected by the mass shooting in Toronto last night on the Danforth. Just another senseless tragedy in the city I consider to be my hometown. The whole thing makes me sick to my stomach.
TORONTO: This was the community my grandfather helped build (Riverdale), and it saddens me that tonight I look in from across the country in the wake of a mass shooting. I feel for Toronto this summer, that’s not what we’re about. pic.twitter.com/o872exVoEi
— Rob Fai (@RobFaiNation) July 23, 2018
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones and everyone affected by last night’s tragic incident on #Danforth. #TorontoStrong 💙 pic.twitter.com/rMRRYaTBRc
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 23, 2018
FINAL | Lugnuts snap their nine game losing streak 🙌🙌🙌 pic.twitter.com/gCyk1tfVLH
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) July 23, 2018
Another set of awesome Throwbacks for the @vancanadians when they take the field tonight! pic.twitter.com/97jB78c77Y
— Minor League Promos (@MiLBPromos) July 23, 2018
IT IS TIME!
Dany Jimenez is into the ball game to close it out!
T9 | Lugnuts 2, Kernels 0 | #LugLife pic.twitter.com/5iYMAg6tw8
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) July 23, 2018
Lugnuts leading 2-0 heading to the seventh!
Jordan Barrett’s final line: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 4 K pic.twitter.com/9dpwhkbfgR
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) July 23, 2018
Love this job! Walk-off bomb baby👊🏻 Sound up😎 https://t.co/LY1wCPnPEX
— Brock Lundquist (@Brock_Lundquist) July 23, 2018
Thanks to Nick Podkul’s homerun, everyone at today’s game will receive a FREE Teen Burger and a Root Beer Float! #AtTheNat pic.twitter.com/oY3shXqI3t
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 22, 2018
For the last 15 games Yorman Rodriguez has played in, he has at least 1 hit in every game #AtTheNat pic.twitter.com/4gXAY0IwcZ
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 22, 2018
The @vancanadians beat the #Hops 5-3 at The Nat!
Hear the brief post game show on #TSN1040 now!
Listen online a https://t.co/RndpxTpj0G pic.twitter.com/ROLflH1Olq
— TSN Radio Vancouver (@TSN1040) July 22, 2018
Congratulations to the @EverettAquaSox for clinching the 1st half.
Time to push the reset button, the 2nd half starts on the 24th pic.twitter.com/jDFhRxQ0wt
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 23, 2018
. 2011 @Noahsyndergaard in Vancouver #AtTheNat pic.twitter.com/WF3bDKgYZB
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 22, 2018
@vancanadians @abrentals pregame show on @TSN1040 with @RobFaiNation and #VanCanadians catcher Brett Wright @WrightBrett11. #BlueJays #Jays pic.twitter.com/qfJb3ik2bd
— CsPlusBaseball.ca (@csplusbaseball) July 22, 2018
@vancanadians @abrentals pregame show on @TSN1040 with @RobFaiNation and #VanCanadians lefthander Marcus Reyes @marcusreyes03 #BlueJays #Jays pic.twitter.com/VxL6abHHdQ
— CsPlusBaseball.ca (@csplusbaseball) July 22, 2018
Today’s A&B Tool Rentals Pre-Game Show will be on today starting at 12pm on @TSN1040 with @RobFaiNation. #AtTheNat
Listen: https://t.co/P7OLhqjWQS pic.twitter.com/xXwWtljJj6
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 22, 2018
Hunter Steinmetz makes a leaping catch in left field during yesterday’s 3-2 WIN #AtTheNat pic.twitter.com/LIIqrtdu1G
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 22, 2018
ICYMI Brett Wright hits his 3rd homerun last night against @HillsboroHops #AtTheNat pic.twitter.com/ID8RAWzcSi
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 22, 2018
Kyle Weatherly is dealing after three innings 👌
He has been up to 98 MPH on the stadium radar gun and has three strikeouts!
To the B3 | Kernels 1, Lugnuts 0 | #LugLife pic.twitter.com/Wjavc85Hw0
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) July 22, 2018
As expected Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is activated from 7-day Concussion DL, Richard Urena optioned. Estrada will pitch in AA Monday (gluten strain). Monday starter TBD.
— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) July 22, 2018
😍 Porch Views #AtTheNat pic.twitter.com/hXcZOrHBzM
— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) July 22, 2018
Fans, did you know that Toronto Blue Jay outfielder Kevin Pillar spent 2011 here in Bluefield? Pillar led the Appalachian League in 2011 in batting average when he batted .364.
This season in Toronto, Pillar is batting .247 with 8 homers & 37 RBI. #BlueJays #MiLB #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/d6unMS93Zu
— Bluefield Blue Jays (@BluefieldJays) July 21, 2018
I love Vancouver
— Connor Law (@CLawman41) July 21, 2018
Supporting my brother Rodrigo Orozco 🔥🔥 @DunedinBlueJays @alex0204orozco pic.twitter.com/VE74m90Qud
— marquis alexis orozco (@MarquisOrozco) July 20, 2018
Made an outstanding catch in real life too, am I rite? (its me, I’m his outstanding catch) haaa haa ha #badjoke https://t.co/6VIKhLatUJ
— Ellie Markarian (@EllieMarkarian) July 21, 2018